"Your humble servant greets the general!" Shi Fu stood outside the door and saluted Zheng Zhilong with his fists.
Zheng Zhilong snorted unhappily and motioned for the other party to come in and talk.
When he walked into the house, Shi Fu found a mess on the floor.
He pointed at the mess on the ground and asked: "Sir... this..."
Zheng Zhilong said calmly: "Success just came."
"Does he know about Shi Lang?"
"More than knowing, Shi Lang was forced to surrender by him." Zheng Zhilong's face became even uglier than before: "If he didn't surrender, maybe we could make a big deal out of a small matter or a small matter disappear. But he surrendered, and this matter can't be washed away or handled."
Shi Fu thought for a moment and said, "Actually... it's not that there is no solution."
"What is the solution?"
"Let Shi Lang pretend to surrender like Zu Dashou did, and escape back when he gets a chance."
"How can they be the same?" Zheng Zhilong said unhappily, "Zu Dashou was forced to surrender when he was fighting against the Jian Nu, and Shi Lang surrendered to the Jian Nu after being defeated when he was supporting the Jian Nu. Moreover, the court has already known about this matter, and the court will not let him go whether he returns or not."
Shi Fu stopped talking.
Why did Shi Lang support the Jiannu?
Did he do that willingly?
Obviously not.
Shi Lang was just following orders.
He smuggled goods under the order of Zheng Zhilong and provided support to the Jian Nu in the process.
If Shi Lang was just an outsider, Shi Fu would not care whether he was dead or alive.
But Shi Lang was his nephew.
Now that the truth has been revealed, Zheng Zhilong not only does not try to find a way to resolve the problem, but instead seems to be watching him die without helping.
This made him feel a little uncomfortable.
Seeing Shi Fu's distressed look, Zheng Zhilong assured him, "Don't worry, I will take care of Shi Lang's affairs to the end!"
Shi Fu immediately put away his previous expression and saluted again: "Thank you, General."
"Well," Zheng Zhilong looked at Shi Fu, "What do you want to talk to me about?"
"Yes," Shi Fu took out a letter from his arms, handed it to Zheng Zhilong and said, "This is the letter that Mr. Qian just sent from Nanjing."
The Mr. Qian mentioned by Shi Fu is Qian Qianyi, Zheng Chenggong’s teacher.
At the time, he donated a sum of money to the prince when he was in the most difficult time and became his aide.
Although he had no real power, he could see the prince from time to time and get a lot of useful information from him.
Zheng Zhilong had few connections in the Nanjing court and limited ways of obtaining information.
So he thought of Qian Qianyi first and wrote him a letter.
Now that he has received Qian Qianyi's reply, he must have the information and inside information he urgently needs.
After opening Qian Qianyi's letter, Zheng Zhilong began to read its contents.
As he watched, his expression gradually became solemn.
Shi Fu asked beside him, "Sir, what is written in the letter?"
Zheng Zhilong frowned as he read it and replied, "Mr. Qian said that although the court knew about Shi Lang's surrender to the Jian Nu, it didn't seem to want to investigate."
“No accountability?”
"Yes! According to Mr. Qian, after Bolo of the Zhenglan Banner of the Jiannu surrendered, he informed the Ping Liao Army of Shi Lang's surrender. The Ping Liao Army immediately submitted a memorial to the cabinet, and the cabinet forwarded the memorial to the Imperial Household Department, but there was no news after that."
"No news?" Shi Fu rolled his eyes around his eye sockets: "Where is the impeachment petition?"
Zheng Zhilong replied: "Your Majesty should have kept it."
(Limited: The memorial is put on hold and not processed.)
After saying this, Zheng Zhilong had already seen the last part of the letter.
He denied what he had just said, shook his head and said, "No, Your Majesty is not unwilling to investigate the responsibility, but feels that the time is not right or that he has no time to investigate!"
Shi Fu didn't understand what Zheng Zhilong said, so he quickly asked, "What do you mean?"
At this time, Zheng Zhilong had already finished reading the contents of the letter.
He put away the letter and said seriously: "A part of Jiannu was wiped out, and the rest fled to Korea. The Ping Liao army wanted to enter Korea to pursue and suppress them, but the national treasury was empty and could not support the overseas war, so they could only station troops on the border."
"If we are held responsible at this time, if the punishment is too light, many people will be dissatisfied. If the punishment is too heavy, it will force us to rebel and put the court in the dilemma of fighting on two fronts. So your majesty can only wait and deal with us after the Jiannu in Korea are wiped out."
Shi Fu nodded in approval: "That makes sense, then what about the lack of time to investigate?"
Zheng Zhilong cautiously opened the door and looked outside. After making sure no one was eavesdropping, he closed the door and whispered, "Your Majesty hasn't attended court for almost a month!"
"Isn't that right?" Shi Fu blinked and said, "I remember I only missed ten days."
"That was before!" Zheng Zhilong corrected him, "The latest news from the capital is that His Majesty has not attended court from July 29th to August 19th."
Shi Fu counted on his fingers and said, "Today is August 30th. It will take at least ten days for the news from the capital to reach Fujian. This is indeed the latest news."
"Yes!" Zheng Zhilong nodded: "I haven't been to court for 21 days, which has shocked the whole court."
Shi Fu said uncertainly, "Your Majesty worked day and night during the Liaodong Campaign, and was exhausted both physically and mentally. Now that Liaodong has been finally pacified, it would be normal for Your Majesty to relax for a while without attending court, right?"
"It's not normal!" Zheng Zhilong continued, "It's not enough that your Majesty hasn't attended court for more than 20 days, he hasn't even shown up. And... late one night, the palace ordered the imperial physician to come in and diagnose the patient."
"What did the royal doctor say?"
"Keep your mouth shut."
Shi Fu paused and guessed, "Could it be that... His Majesty is really ill?"
"I can't guess for sure, so let's analyze it together. By the way, more than ten days ago, His Majesty summoned the Cabinet Chief Minister Fan Jingwen. I don't know what they discussed specifically, but after Fan Jingwen left the Imperial City, he told the ministers in the court that His Majesty looked very bad."
Although Shi Fu wanted to analyze it, he didn't have the intelligence to do so.
I thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure it out.
In order not to disappoint Zheng Zhilong, he pinched his brows and thought for a while before saying, "What does Mr. Qian say?"
Zheng Zhilong said cautiously, "Mr. Qian didn't write anything in the letter, but he sent me a message saying that he suspected that Your Majesty was faking illness!"
"Where's the evidence?"
"If your majesty is really ill, and seriously ill, you should summon the crown prince to the capital immediately to prevent any accidents, instead of letting him continue to stay in Nanjing to supervise the country."
"That's really the truth!" Shi Fu said admiringly, "Mr. Qian is indeed worthy of being the leader of Donglin."
Zheng Zhilong said with a serious expression: "But Mr. Qian has another concern."
"What are you worried about?"
"If Your Majesty does not want to pass the throne to the Crown Prince, then it makes sense not to allow the Crown Prince to come to the capital."
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